Wings of Night
by unicorndragon115
Summary: Dragons don't exist. At least, not now. But a planned accident sends me back in time to Scandinavia, during the viking age. And there was more about the viking age then we know.
1. Chapter 1:The taste of Dirt

Hey, I know that the dragons don't come in immediately, don't worry, they will show in chapter two

Chapter One

I walked slowly down into the valley. It looked normal enough for a Nevada valley, yellow and brown grass covering the rough, curving hills. I anxiously walked a little bit deeper into it. I had not come this far just to be captured now, ambushed by something impossibly small in the long, waving grasses, smoothly flowing with the breeze and licking the edge of the clear blue sky.

A month ago, kidnappers nabbed my family along with the families of two of my friends, Hershy Eminem and Ryan Jackson. Our houses were ransacked, but nothing was taken excepting our families. I immediately packed a backpack with enough supplies to last a year, and a few very important items, and hid it in a secret bush in the park. Then I ran to my friends' houses and the three of us called the police. There was a long investigation process, most of which I completely ignored, and the three of us were thrown into a foster home. Woo hoo. I wouldn't say we were mistreated, or anything, but everything was rather dull, and school had just ended for the summer, so there was nothing interesting to do. After a week, we deciphered my ransom note, and ran away to this location, which was mentioned in invisible ink, but along the way, Hershey mysteriously disappeared when we hid inside a shed, and just two days ago, Ryan had also vanished while we slept. Now my purpose was even stronger. Get whatever the kidnappers wanted, and exchange it for all of those people.

So here I was, nervously poking my way through the stained yellow grass, observing every movement and sound. And of course, I noticed a small ditch in the ground, leading to a pass in between two mountains. Whatever. It is probably a dried up stream. Stepping into the ditch, I slowly walked and walked and walked, and finally reached the pass. I scanned the area. Nothing unusual here. Maybe this whole thing was a waste of time. Suddenly, the ground beneath me collapsed, and I sank, dirt filling my hair and clothes, and I plugged my ears. Uhhh oh. Suddenly, my vision flashed iridescently and blacked out.

Me: So, yeah, that is chapter one. I'll try to add chapter to as soon as I can.

Darkstar: Chop Chop. Get to where I come in- that is clearly going to be the best part.

Me: Yes. That is apparent.


	2. Chapter 2: Fight or Flight

Chapter 2

Groaning, my vision swam back and I regained consciousness. The first thing I saw was I was on a island. With a volcano. A sharp wind whistled past, and I shivered, noticing for the first time where I was. An island in the middle of nowhere. I processed what had happened. I was on a cold island, by the looks of it, far, far away from Nevada. I narrowed my eyes. The island was mostly covered in long, bright green grass, wet with dew, growing in between large areas of rocks. The whole thing looked approximately a mile or two across, with a huge volcano right smack in the center that took up practically the whole island.

I was lying down on the rocky beach, facing the volcano, when the ground rumbled. It started moving side to side, up and down, like the floor of a moving bus. "Earthquake?" I muttered, keeping my eyes on the volcano for clues. And I got one. A very big clue. A cone- shaped horn started poking out of the top, looking rather like a sharp rock. "What-on-earth?" I said, barely more than a whisper. The rock slowly, gradually started moving up, gradually growing bigger and bigger, until revealing an enormous lizard, one almost as big as the volcano. It was poisonous green, with huge scales, and resembled the Green Death from Dreamworks Dragons movies.

"Okay- this is what heaven looks like?" I grumbled. Suddenly, a wound on my knee started stinging painfully. I looked down. When had I gotten that? Ugh. I must have hurt myself when I…. It all came flooding back to me. Sinking through the dirt, and I remember a electronicized female voice saying "and your next destination is Dragon Island, age of the vikings. Uh huh. Sure. I was probably just transported to somewhere resembling Berk.

Oh, and also with a gargantuan lizard that was slowly cranking its scaly

neck toward me, a forked tongue smelling the air, sniffing for prey. I looked around. There didn't seem to be much to eat here anyway. I looked back at the lizard. It really looked like the Green Death, except, maybe a little smaller. I laughed, dizzily. Great. The kidnappers must have clubbed me in the head. No longer caring, I turned around and immediately bumped into a shiny, obsidian black rock. "Ow!" I growled, and kicked the rock, stubbing my toe.

"Stew-peed rock!" I hissed. Ever since I watched a movie in which a lady with a French accent said stupid like that, I started saying it. I turned and was about to walk around it when the rock suddenly _got up and clubbed me in the stomach with a smaller lump on the back!_

I stared, utterly bewildered, and rubbing my stomach. It was numb, and after a second started throbbing painfully, taking my mind off my head and giving me a new injury to deal with. Anyway, I warily started backing away from the rock. Finally, it raised its-head?- and I realized it was completely alive. It looked like Meatlug from How To Train Your Dragon, just pure black, and now that I look close, with dark blue eyes, and silver drop-shaped scales on the edges of her eyes, and a perfect silver star on her chest. Stifling a scream, I slowly edged my way back. A roar blasted from behind me, and I whirled, hands clapped on my ears. Imagine the sound of the audience of the Olympics. Then multiply that by twenty. That barely begins to describe the chilling roar, rippling through my bones and making my teeth chatter and my knees knock together. The message was clear- it wanted food. With sudden realization I looked at my own arms. Looked like I was on the menu. There was no cover on the island, a few short trees and shrubs, nothing more. There was no forest, caves of any kind to shelter in. The great lizard slowly turned it's humongous head to me, and fixed one beady eye on me. I swallowed. Do I look very tasty? I am moderately tall and thin, but muscular and tanned. My black hair was cropped at my collar bones, and my self cut bangs were swept to the side of my face. Tasty or no, I would still be edible for this beast. Suddenly, I make a decision. I sprint around the black-rock animal and run to the beach, where I skidded to the stop on a large boulder. I can't just swim off. It would catch me, if I don't drown before. I looked back to see the black thing had followed me. Great. I slowly backed away into the water, when the thing charged forward and rammed me at such an angle I flew straight up and landed on it's back. Hard. "OW!" I yelped, and it made a purring, growling sound. I twisted around and stared at the huge lizard which was slowly starting to climb it's way out of the volcano. I narrowed my keen electrical eyes. There were two flaps of skin sticking out of the Green Death replica's back, and the lizard slowly extended them, revealing to be huge, bat shaped wings. I stared in shock. Great. It really was the Green Death, or at least one of it's kids. The wings were long and thin, with torn edges and tears on the edges. Yeah, no way that thing was getting off the ground. The Green Death 2 raised the huge wings and started flapping them. My eyes widened as it slowly lifted out of the volcano and into the sky. I turned my attention back on the black thing. "Hey, girl? Is it?" She wagged her tail excitedly, which I took as a yes. "Can you swim?" She wagged her tail some more, and suddenly, two somewhat soft flabs of skin pelted me on the arms. I yelped, more in surprise than pain, then gasped. "You have wings?" I said incredulously. That settled it. Either I had completely lost it or I really had somehow, crazily ended up in the world of Dreamworks Dragons. AHHHHH. That would be bad. Then again, so would completely losing my mind.

"If you have wings, can you FLY AWAY?" I muttered, then sighed. There is no way that would work. I must be polite. "Uhh, Darkstone? Can you please fly away?" It stayed in the same spot, shifting from foot to foot.

"Blackstone?" I asked desperately. I leaned forward, looking for clues. The perfect silver star gleamed on her chest. "Blackstar?" I asked. Immediately, the dragon perked up, but still didn't take off. "Darkstar?" I whimpered, now looking at the Green Death 2 as it got a high position, looking at me and drooling. "Darkstar, please fly away now!" I screeched. I felt a jerk, and the black thing, which apparently was called Darkstar, flapped those tiny wings and impossibly lifted us into the air. I whimpered again, as the Green Death 2 slowly rotated it's wings to dive. I grabbed hold of two flaps of skin behind Darkstar's ears and lightly pulled without realizing. Instantaneously, she shot forward like a bullet. "AHHHHHHH!" I screamed, tightly holding on to the flaps. How did such a round dragon with tiny wings go so fast? Sadly, the Green Death 2 noticed, and got mad. He growled so loud my eardrums felt like they bursted, and Darkstar flipped upside down and started flying somewhat distorted. I screamed and held on with my legs and arms as tight as I could, almost giving her a upside down hug. Finally she shook her head and righted, and we dove behind a seastack. The Green Death 2 growled, furious now. It dived down, wind whistling through it's ragged wings, and gaining speed. "I'm sorry about this," I muttered to the dragon, then reached back and slapped it's rump. The dragon scream-growled, obviously thinking it was the Green Death two, and shot forward so fast everything blurred, and all I could see were my hands and the dragon. "Where are we going?" I tried shouting through the wind to the newly considered gronckle. Immediately, a bug flew into my mouth, and I coughed and gagged. I spit it out, and the slobbered bug blew away into the wind. I spit and wiped my mouth for a long time, trying to get the disgusting taste out of my mouth. After what seemed like half an hour, an island popped up in sight, One that seemed very quiet and beautiful. "Let's land there," I suggested, and the dragon carefully landed on the beach. I looked around. It seemed very pretty. "Thanks Darkstar. You saved me." The dragon grinned and stuck its tongue out. I cocked my head. Darkstar was too long to say, especially if we were in a hurry. "I'm going to call you...Star!" I decided. I looked at the dense leafy woods that were blowing gently in the wind. They beckoned to me, calm and peaceful. "Star, why don't we-" I looked around. Star had taken off and was zooming into the forest. "Wait!" I called, "come back!" She kept going, not even looking back. Maybe something is wrong. I gazed into the forest. Then I started sprinting after her.

Me: yeah, I wanted to leave a cliffhanger

Darkstar: yay! I've come in!

Me: I know, I wrote it

Darkstar: As promised, I am awesome.

Me: Ugh


	3. Chapter 3: Have Dragon, Will Travel

Chapter 3

My chest hurt, and sweat was pouring down my back like a waterfall. Running after a gronckle is hard work. As I ran deeper into the jungle following the distant black dot, I was aware that there was almost a purring, humming sound in the air, like someone was playing a flute very quietly, yet setting the land ablaze with melody. My throat was sore, yet I kept calling Star's name. There is no way I can survive a world with dragons by myself.

When the sun was in the middle of the sky, roughy about noon, I finally noticed that I was gaining on the black dot, that it had stopped moving. I sighed in relief and after half an hour, caught up to Star. She was sitting on a rock, which strangely did not match her sharp angles, and her round, black pupils had constricted to sharp, catlike slits. "Star?" I asked hesitantly. I noticed her staring intently at something just out of my vision. Carefully, so as not to startle her, I crept up next to her and pulled myself onto the rock. She looked at me, then looked back at what had fascinated her so long. I looked up from the rock and saw it. A giant, butterfly shaped dragon. "Deathsong," I whispered, and my heart froze. Wasn't this the dragon that entrapped others with their music and amber? It was flying in circles, wailing in-audibly, but now I know what caused the purring in the air. I looked back at Star, only to find that she was slowly flying towards it. "Star!" I hissed. "Block it out!" She shook her head a few times and seemed to register what I said, but it was too late. The Death Song swiveled, flapping those beautiful wings like a butterfly.

"No!" I shouted, but luckily for me, the Death Song was too busy blasting Star to notice. It was bad for Star, however. Liquid amber shot out of the Death Song's mouth, and covered every inch of Star. It hardened immediately, and she crashed to the ground. Trying not to scream, I carefully crawled close to her, and the Death Song turned around and flew away, probably to catch another dragon. I scanned the area. There were a couple of other dragons, one that was probably a monstrous nightmare and one that I could barely distinguish from the ground. Changewing. I glanced at the sky. The Death Song was nowhere in sight, so I ran up to Star and touched the amber. It had hardened so much already there was no way I could break it. The only way would probably be to make it explode, but I had no firepower, and Star's mouth was stuck closed. She looked at me then gestured to the monstrous nightmare with her eyes. I stared. "The monstrous nightmare can get you out?" She grunted in approval. "Okay, if you're sure." I walked over to the monstrous nightmare. "Do you know how to get her out?" I asked, feeling slightly foolish. As if the dragon would answer. He opened his mouth and fired at me. I dodged, barely escaping singing my left arm. "Star!" I snapped. "Help? You know, with the mad nightmare?" I asked. She grunted. "Hey! Don't yell at me! Yell at him!" I said incredulously. She turned her attention onto the nightmare and grunted. He immediately perked up, and I approached him again, slower this time. He grunted, then dipped his head. At this point, I was feeling somewhat reckless, and with no plan, I put my hand on his snout. He closed his eyes, and I inwardly cheered and collapsed in relief. He drooled a little bit, green slime oozed down his muzzle and dripped onto the ground. I perked up.

That's it! If I used nightmare saliva, I could heat the amber so much it exploded right off. I jogged around, and collected a few huge leaves. Then I held them under the nightmare's jaw and carefully peeled away his lip. I winced. He had razor sharp, pearly pink teeth, and bad breathe that no other animal could ever achieve.

Bright green saliva dripped out and into the leaf, as I inwardly cringed. Then I walked over to Star, and slathered the green goo all over here, like a disgusting bath soap. She whimpered, obviously disgusted, and I laughed. Then Star grunted again to the nightmare, who then fired at her. The fire immediately caught onto the goo, and I dived behind a rock, anticipating what would happen. Steaming pieces of amber exploded everywhere, and the nightmare purred as Star got up and shook out her wings, showering tiny particles of amber everywhere. "Done yet?" I asked, coming out from behind the now singed rock. She grinned toothily and walked over to the nightmare, nuzzling his head, then stepped back. The nightmare, catching on from us on a useful escape tactic, spit all over himself, and Star fired at him. While I dived behind the rock again and Star shielded herself with a wing, I pondered again how a gronckle could fly so fast. Because in the movies, I was pretty sure they spewed molten lava, not that fast, purple-blue shot I just saw pelting towards the amber on the nightmare. That was definitely not normal for a gronckle. This time I stayed behind the rock while Star and the nightmare- who I am going to start calling Spitfire because he saved Star with his spit and his fire, freed the changewing. They were all purring and growling softly until suddenly Star jumped into the air and started flapping above them. The two dragons looked up at her and dipped their heads. This downright confused me. Why would two dragons bow to a gronckle? "Probably just a ritual." I dismissed it. I walked up to Star, and carefully climbed onto her sharp stony back, and the dragons and I parted ways. I looked up at the sky. It looked to be about four in the afternoon, still bright, but four hours had gone bye. I yawned, feeling exhausted all of a sudden. "Star, do you know where we can find other people?" I murmured, slurring my words, my eyes pulling and my head feeling heavy. Star growled something and the world spinned, dragging me down and my eyes closed, descending into darkness.

After two hours of traveling top speed, I felt a large, rough, slobbery tongue licking my face off. "Owwww…." I trailed, waking up. Star and I were next to a crystal clear river, that curved through a forest and disappeared among the leafy greens a little farther away. The forest was not quiet, and sounds of birds and fish could be heard. Star walked over to the edge and suddenly leaned down, trailing her mouth through the water. When she raised her head, her mouth was full, and I walked over to the clear, shining water. And screamed.

My reflection didn't look real anymore! I looked like a cartoon from a movie. And not just any. I looked like a black haired Astrid. I whimpered. My clothes, skin tone, hair color, eye color, and the basic stuff was the same, except I looked like a cartoon! I stared at my midriff and limbs. There is no way a real person could ever be this deathly skinny. I dropped down and did a push-up, and stood again. How can I be this dang skinny and still be as strong as I ever was? Not to mention my face looks like it was drawn. It was flushed lightly, like someone from a disney princess movie. AHHHHHHHHHH! Now, usually people think it would be cool to look like a character from a movie. This is not cool. This is weird. This makes me feel like an alien inside my own body.

I spent almost an hour freaking out, until finally I calmed down. I had discovered a small dagger in my pocket, but none of my water bottles or supplies from before I ended up on dragon island. That brought me back to the present.

"Where are we?" I asked Star. She growled, then started walking down the stream. She turned and gestured with her head, and I reluctantly followed her. She pushed a branch out of her way, and let it go. It sprang back and hit me in the face. I flew backwards and moaned. "Owwww." I groaned. Just my luck. Star came back looking slightly concerned, and before I could do anything, grabbed my boot and flew off. She didn't grab my actual foot, so it didn't damage me, but there is something undignifying about dangling through the air with your foot in a dragon's mouth.

Very shortly after, she laid me carefully down behind a bush, and I got up. She landed beside me and carefully looked over the top. Taking her signal, I also looked carefully over the top. There, I saw a village. "People!" I breathed. Then I looked closer. The buildings were all extremely old fashioned, looking like they were made by vikings. "Who am I kidding?" I muttered to myself. "This probably is a viking village." I was about to walk in and ask for help when I saw a HUGE, beefy man walk in. He had no hair on his head, but had a long blonde mustache, and had only one leg and one arm. However, instead of a normal prosthetic arm, he had a long, deadly looking hook. "GOBBER? GET OVER HERE!" Someone shouted from deeper inside the village. I narrowed my eyes. It was a really, really plump woman, who, again, was carrying an axe, and overall looked deadly. "Star, are you sure the people in this town are...friendly?" I asked. The dragon nodded. I glanced back at the village. "Still, I can't march in and say I'm from the future. I need a good excuse." I turned to Star. "The two of us will crash land in the middle of the town, and claim to have lost all our memories. Hopefully they will help us, and once we figure out where we are, I can get home and you can…" I wondered where her friends and family where. "Find your friends and family."

Me: This time it wasn't so much of a cliff hanger

Darkstar: Yes, but you did make me more mysterious.

Me: You are mysterious without my help.

Darkstar: Awwww, that was so nice of you to say!

Me: You have an 'cough cough' interesting idea of nice.


	4. Chapter 4: Friend or Foe?

Chapter 4

Star and I curled up behind the bush, and slept for the night. In the morning, I woke up first, and gently nudged Star awake. She shook her head, and I nodded to her. Then I leaped on her back, and she flew up, until we were hovering far above the town, taking a deep breathe, I jump off her back. The air flies past me, whistling and roaring in my ears. I closed my eyes, and I felt Star wrap her wings around me so the impact of hitting the ground doesn't kill me. Time felt like it slowed, but after a moment, we hit the ground so hard I saw Star's head nod and she got knocked out. A moment later, my head also slammed into the ground, and my vision swam once again, then blackened.

My eyes fluttered open to see Toothless's face looking down at me. I must admit, I didn't take that really well. I screamed my head off and started punching his muzzle. He whimpered and backed off several steps. I leaped out of the bed I just realized I was lying in, and started running for the door. Mistake. My head pounded and the world started spinning, and I fell, luckily right on top of Star's stony midriff. I leaned on her, and once my vision returned, carefully checked her vitals, and found they were healthy. I blew out in relief. She was just sleeping. I turned my attention onto Toothless. "Toothless?" I murmured. The dragon purred, and bounded out of the tent. He came back a moment later with a really scrawny boy, looking to be in his early twenties. Again, like me, he looked totally cartoonistic, which makes sense, because he's a cartoon from a FICTIONAL MOVIE!

"Are you okay?" he asked. I rubbed my head and glared defiantly at him. I don't trust strangers easily. "I'm fine." I said defiantly. Toothless walked up to me and started sniffing me. "Hey!" I barked at him. "Who gave you the right to sniff me?" He drew back, eyes wide, startled. "Easy bud." The scrawny dude murmured to the puppy-like dragon. "I'm Hiccup." He said graciously. I gotta give him credit, most people would have blown up with my defensiveness by now. I wasn't about to be nice though. "How'd you end up with a name like that?" I sneered. He rolled his eyes. "It means runt. Make sense?" I was taken aback by his openness. "I'm also the chief of Berk." Inwardly, I gasped. So this was Hiccup from the Dreamworks _How To Train Your Dragon Movies_? I looked from Toothless to Hiccup, then remembered I was supposed to have amnesia. "I have absolutely no idea where and what that is." I lied. Then it struck me. These were _Norsemen_. Shouldn't they speak, I don't know, viking grunts or something? Casually, I said, "what language are we speaking in?" He nodded, apparently buying the amnesia act. "Norish." he said. I raised an eyebrow. "This language was created about a hundred years ago. I was actually thinking about changing the language name to _English._ I stared at him. Okay, so our history records were way off. Firstly, they didn't mention _dragons,_ and also didn't know that viking created English. "I am Skylar Grace." I said, trying to sound regal. Hey, I need respect. He cocked his head. "I thought you didn't remember anything?" I shrugged, hiding my dismay. "I only remember my name, age, extremely basic stuff. Oh, and my dragon, Darkstar." I gestured to the sleeping gronckle beside me. I followed his eyes to the silver star, which he accepted. "Sooo, are you a dragon rider?" he asked. I shrugged again, then reached down and lightly shook Star's shoulder. "Wake up!" I murmured. She yawned hugely, showing razor sharp teeth, and blinked up. Suddenly realizing where she was, she leaped up and growled at Toothless and Hiccup. Hiccup cleared his throat. "Oh, and I forgot to mention, this is my dragon Toothless," he gestured to the night fury, "He's a night fury and dragon Alpha." I carefully observed the cute little dragon. Seriously? This teeny tiny little dog-bat could boss my dragon around? Star didn't approve of this either. She growled softly, and once again, Toothless' eyes widened and he dipped his head, slowly bending his front legs. Hiccup and I watched in astonishment. "Toothless…" Hiccup trailed. Toothless straightened and gave Hiccup a grin, retracting his teeth. Hiccup rubbed his head with a fist. Finally, after a long, awkward silence in which Star nudged her head under my palm, he spoke. "I haven't seen Toothless do that since the bewilderbeast." He murmured. I couldn't stand this awkwardness any more. "OH, WELL!" I said louder, so both Toothless and Hiccup were startled out of their trance. "Are you the only one that has a dragon around here?" I said, not knowing what else to say. He shook his head. "Let me introduce you to the dragon riders," he said. He turned and swung a leg over Toothless' back, and took off. I slipped onto Star's back and she followed. I focused on the fake red tail. Why does Toothless even bother with Hiccup? I mean, sure, Hiccup saved his live, but Toothless wouldn't need saving if Hiccup hadn't mangled his tail!

Finally, we reached a hollow cut in stone, with a dome shaped mesh made of some sort of metal. We crawled in through a small opening, where I saw precisely slightly older versions of the characters from the HTTYD movies. They were flying inside the dome, practice fighting with their claws tucked into their paws. As Toothless entered, all the dragons swooped down and landed in front of him, and Star joined him. Again, that creepy thing happened, where Star flapped into the air, and the dragons dipped their heads, leaving all their riders bewildered.

About an hour later, i had been introduced to all of the vikings and dragons. I really liked Astrid, she was kind and Stormfly and Star seemed to get along best. The twins were funny, but a bit cuckoo, so it was hard to talk to them. Snotlout started saying how pretty I was, and how handsome he was, so I completely ignored him and went up to Fishlegs. "Um, Fishlegs, can you tell me what a gronckle's fire is like?" He nodded enthusiastically and started ranting a huge lecture about gronckle fire. I pretended to be attentive, but really, I was only thinking about Star's fire. The only thing I gathered from Fishleg's lecture was that gronckles most definitely spew lava, not blue flame. Astrid put her hand on my shoulder, and gently led me away. "Sorry about him." she apologized. "When he starts geeking, he won't stop." I grinned. She walked me over to where our dragons were growling and purring and screeching to each other, having a conversation in dragonese. She smiled, and started telling me the basic facts of every dragon, which I knew most of , but was still fascinated by.

Two days later, Hiccup cleared his throat, and sent riders dragons out of the room. Only Star stayed, since whenever he proposed she leave, she growled ferociously at Hiccup, causing Toothless to reluctantly growl back. I rather wanted to avoid these skirmishes, so I suggested she stay, and he complied. Hiccup got straight to the point. "Dragon hunters have captured Skullcrusher and Eret." he said. The riders all gasped. "Dragon hunters?" I asked. "Why would anyone want to hunt dragons?" He sighed. "I don't know. Probably just for fun, and wealth." He said. "A few years ago, we had a huge dragon hunter problem, led by Viggo Grimborn. We thought we had defeated him, but apparently not. He has returned, and the worst part is…." He took a breathe, " he's searching for someone by the name Sky, with a black dragon. And the biggest part, he doesn't want to kill them. He wants to use the dragon to command others to approach their ships, so they can get shot down." I stared at him. "Are you joking?" I croaked. He was talking about me and Star. He swallowed. "One more thing." He said. "He said the black dragon might be in disguise as a gronckle.

Me: Uh huh. Star was in 'sounding cool' disguise

Darkstar : Ugh, you sounded weird, like you swallowed a frog.

Me : I was trying to sound cool. You hurt my feelings.

Darkstar: Sor-rrry?!

Me : Got ya

Darkstar: barely


	5. Chapter 5: Fire and Blast

Chapter 5

All the riders slowly swiveled towards Star. Astrid narrowed her eyes. "In disguise? Does that mean Darkstar is a changewing?" she murmured. Fishlegs shook his head. "Her fire doesn't look like changewing fire." He responded. Snotlout glanced between them, nodding his head so vigorously I thought it might fall off. "Could be, Astrid," he bobbled at Astrid, "And equally good point Fishlegs." They rolled their eyes and sidled up to Star, and started looking at every corner of her. Star looked uncomfortable, and slowly started backing up.

Seeing this, they backed away, and Snotlout cackled behind them. "Cowards!" He pushed them to the side and sauntered up to Star, advancing and reaching forward with a rather mad look in his eyes. "Snotlout, I wouldn't do that if I were you…." Fishlegs warned. I winced. Oohhhhh, that dude was dead. Star would kill him in three… two….. one…

Star roared with fury and slammed her solid, stone hard tail into his stomach, sending him flying, and he slammed into the other side of the netted arena and slumped down. Immediately, all the other dragons, though looking as if they had better things to do, raised their wings, and roared at Star. Meatlug yawned, Stormfly hopped from foot to foot looking exasperated, Hookfang set himself on fire, and Barf and Belch started ramming each others heads.

Toothless growled, and the dragons snapped to attention as if a switch had been pushed. Okaaay, so apparently he was the most loyal dragon on the team, at least to Snotlout. "Guys, control your dragons!" cried Hiccup, but there was no need. Star purred softly under her breath, and all the dragons calmed down. The dragon rider sighed with relief and went to their dragons, who were are this point completely normal. Hiccup stared at Star with suspicion. "How did she calm them down that fast?" He asked me. I shrugged. "Do I looked like I know?" I asked sarcastically. He raised an eyebrow. "No need to get mad." he grunted. "In my book, there's always something to get mad at."

Later, I was about to go fishing with the _troupe_ when Hiccup pulled me aside. "I really need to talk to you." He muttered urgently. I nodded. No point in arguing. He seemed really determined.

We walked to the training arena, the dragons walking along beside us. He seemed nervous, sweat running down his head. So cartoon characters sweat. Weird. When we reached, he got straight to the point. "Berk is in danger." He started, them flooded it all out. "Viggo learned that Darkstar and you were here, and we managed to temp out of Trader Johann that he is sending a huge fleet over here to kidnap you guys. Berk can hold it's while, but not forever." He stared at me and Star. "You need to tell me why she is so special, so we can use it to our advantage." I narrowed my eyes. "You are going to use her?" I asked incredulously. "She does what she wants, when she wants to do it." He shook his head. "I don't want to force you, but if she has a talent that could kill all dragons, we can't just let her run amok. I will have to tell Toothless to try and keep her contained." My blood boiled. They wanted to trap my Star? Like a common _pet_? Toothless and his band could definately not take her down.

That's when it struck me. Toothless was the alpha. If Star didn't obey his orders, he could literally summon an army of dragons to come destroy her. Star, beside me, whimpered softly, and I rubbed her back. "Fine." I said. "I'll work with you to find out what is so special about her." I hesitated. "Here's what I know already. She is crazy fast, though I try to hide it she can easily go as fast as Toothless. Although she is a gronckle, her fire is blueish purple, and based on its heat, I would say plasma. She's extremely intelligent, but the weirdest thing is the fact that she controls other dragons really easily. It's like they are afraid of her." I chuckled softly. Darkstar, the fearsome tyrant. Then my thoughts shifted back to Toothless. Is it possibly that Darkstar could convince the dragons to back her rather than Toothless? Hiccup followed my gaze to the large Star on her chest. "She also looks unusual, for a gronckle." He said. " I almost think she might be a cross between a gronckle and a night fury." I snorted. "That's impossible. Dragons stick to their own species." he nodded. "That's why I don't understand."

Star was looking back and forth between us, like she was debating whether or not to do something. Suddenly, Toothless jogged into the arena, and dropped a few fish at Hiccup's feet. "Thanks, bud." He said, and Toothless purred. Ugh. Why can't that dragon _act like a dragon?_ Why did it have to act like an overgrown puppy dog? Star snuck up behind me, and growled playfully. I jumped a foot. That dragon…. I couldn't not figure something out. I was pretty sure that she was not a gronckle, yet she looked like one.

Hiccup watched us. "Training begins tomorrow." He said.

I woke up in that rough, woolen bed and rubbed my eyes. Forgetting where I was, I panicked for a minute, then remembered. Star poked an eye open from the ground, and I shook my head. "Wanna go for a flight?" I asked hopefully." She pushed herself off the ground and I carefully got onto her back. I had by now gotten used to her flying and walking motions, and my seat no longer hurt after I got off. We leaped off into the sky, and flew into the horizon, diving around sea stacks.

A strange shaped showed up in front of us. I narrowed my eyes, and nudged Star's side with my leg. She grunted, and dove, gaining speed, then stopping abruptly right in front of it. I stared down at the boat. It looked like it had been attacked, sharp slashes in the side, and a bunch of men in similar uniforms were lying sprawled across the deck, with their weapons laying down next to them. I looked at their sail, and I froze. It was crude picture of a dragon, with an arrow sticking straight through it's middle. Dragon hunters. I stared down at the men. None of them appeared to be breathing, but this whole thing _screamed_ trap. I waited for a minute, I noticed that one of the men gasped hard and silently, out of breath. Gotcha. I quickly surveyed the ship. Not that many people. Star and I could definitely take them. "Fire!" I screamed, and Star roared, shaking the sky, and dived. The wind whistled, and just like I predicted, the men all jumped up and grabbed their weapons. Yep. Trap. Star fired at the boat, and a large sack dropped on the heads of two dragon hunters. A bunch of them pulled out crossbows and green-tipped arrows. They fired, and Star zipped around most of them. A stray arrow, however, was headed straight to Star's stomach, which was probably vulnerable.

Time slowed down. I stared at the arrow, unsure of what to do, and the hunters cheers rang slowly in my ears. It was two seconds away from hitting her. One second. I kicked my leg back, and the arrow sunk deep into my leg. I howled. My leg hurt, stinging so bad my eyes filled with tears. Suddenly, Star tipped sideways, and I didn't have enough time to grab on. I slipped off and fell, headed for the water. Cheers rose up, and I grunted, pulling my legs up so I didn't bellyflop. I entered with a huge splash, and a net fished me out and pulled me up. My leg scraped against the side of the boat, and I screamed with pain. Star looked down and noticed. She roared, and dove, firing the ship ten times. The ship rocked and groaned, and Star slammed down on the deck and ran towards me. She plowed hunters out of her path.

Then I noticed one more, holding up his crossbow. "Star, NO!" I yelled, but it was too late. She reared up, and an arrow penetrated the soft skin in between her wing and back. She roared one final time, then fell, crashing down onto her knees feebly. How on earth had a single arrow done that to her? I ran through my HTTYD knowledge. I slapped my forehead. Of course! These must be dragon root arrows, like from _Dragons: Race to the Edge_. Which meant she could not move for a while. Uhhhhh Oh. "Star!" I yelled, and the dragons hunters jumped to their feet and started throwing ropes over her. She blasted one, and another one took its place. She kept blasting them, somehow ignoring the gronckle shot limit of six, and ropes started outnumbering her, one pulling down her back, another on her foreleg, another on her hind leg, and a dragon hunter leaped forward and tackled her neck to the deck. Another immediately fitted her mouth with a muzzle, and she tried in vain to get up.

I slowly wrestled the net off, getting angrier by the second. "HOW DARE YOU TREAT MY DARKSTAR LIKE THAT!" I roared, and I kicked a hunter in the stomach. He gasped and keeled forward, the axe dropping from his hand. I grabbed it and sprinted forward towards the hunters. One of them tried to knock it out of my grip with a shield, but I just swung it back and pushed the shield onto his head. It hit his helmet with a thud, and I grabbed the shield from him and charged. For the most part I stayed behind the shield, deflecting everything in my path, gaining confidence. Finally, I reached her. "Hold on, girl." I murmured, hacking at the ropes with the axe. It was extremely resilient, taking two blows to fell a single rope, and my progress was slow.

I saw a knot at the bottom of the rope. It was holding all of them together. I grinned and raise the axe to cut it apart when a huge club pounded down on my head. I failed. We had been captured by the dragon hunters. I lowered the axe in despair. The last thing I remember was a flat, wide, leering face, before I blacked out.


	6. Chapter 6: Changing Tides

My temples hurt, and the top of my forehead stung. I had such a bad headache my head hurt like it was splitting open. I reached up and touched it. There was a white bandage, probably covering a gash. I winced. I hope that club didn't cause too much damage. I replayed the fight. I was so _close_ to freeing her, but then everything had gone wrong. Despair flared through me, and I sank against the wall, defeated. Wall. I looked up and around. I seemed to be in an iron cell, with no windows or doors, the mesh holding the cell to the passage bolted shut. I shook the iron bars slightly. They rattled but held. I pushed my face against the bars and looked towards the other cells. On my right, a bluish green zippleback lounged, eating fish from a surprisingly big barrel. On my left, a gronckle was being nudged by a hunter with a spear, and the gronckle kept eating rocks and spewing molten lava. I narrowed my eyes. The hunter immediately started hammering the lava and dipped it into a barrel of water, presumably cold. Steam rushed up, and when he pulled it out, it was a shiny, deadly sharp sword, gleaming and thin. He raised a huge, heavy, blocklike sword, and drew up the swords together. Ahh. He was going to test the smaller gronckle iron sword against the bigger one. I observed the two. As he brought them clanging against each other, the gronckle iron sword, the small, light sword, slammed against the huge one, and dented it. Whoa- gotta get one of those, and that stone engraved with the recipe.

I looked directly across me. There was an orangish, somewhat sandy colored dragon, that looked like a really spikey night fury. Sand wraith- I love those guys. In the video game, School of Dragons, they are such amazing racers. I looked next to it, and saw a Wooly Howl. Narrowing my eyes, I looked at the huge strike class dragon. It's cell was the same size as the gronckle, and I watched as the poor thing tried to stretch it's tail, only to smack into the wall with a painful _crunch_. It whimpered, and turned it's head slightly to stared directly at me. The "fur" on it's head made it look like a huge furry night fury. It was sandy colored, with a white stomach, and it's dark purple eyes seemed to stare right into my soul. "Who are you looking at?" I asked disgruntled, and the dragon grunted.

I looked at the cages on the other sides. Most of the others were empty, minus one at the very end, where Star was groaning and rolling over again and again. Pushing my cheek as hard as I could against the bars, I could see that her cell was tiny, maybe for a speed stinger, and she was desperately trying to get this shiny metal thing off her back. She growled, and slammed against the wall.

I'll admit, I was impressed at how _less_ the amount of dragons these feared hunters had. And also, when Star kept on ramming herself against the ship, making it rock, eventually, a huge dragon hunter with a rather dull expression on his face strode in from one side of the long hall. "Hey!" He grunted in a deep voice. "Quit it!" I laughed out loud. The dirty look Star was giving him- let's just say if I were him I would have started chopping her head off. However, I am not him, and him is not the brightest guy in the world. Or girl. Or person. "Good beast." He grunted, and started walking away. All the dragons started growling in chopped stanzas, sounding like laughter. The hunter swiveled around, for the first time actually looking dangerous. "If you overgrown lizards don't shut up, I will cut out your tongues!" We all shut up immediately, as he walked over to the cage with the gronckle, and the hunter hit the poor thing in the head with the butt of the sword, then handed it over to the threatening hunter. The hunter walked towards Star, brandishing the sword.

She growled and tensed her legs, then suddenly fell. I looked behind her, and saw chains wrapped multiple times around her legs. She turned her head and blasted her blue fire at them. Nothing happened. The dragon hunter laughed and kept advancing. She opened her mouth, and the inside of her maw and throat started glowing, ready to strike. He lunged, and from the inside of his vest, threw a chain that wrapped around her head and bound her muzzle shut. She tried in vain to open her mouth, and I clenched my fist.

"HEY!" Shaking the bars as much as I can, "LET GO OF MY DRAGON OR YOU WILL PAY!" He ambled over without a care in the world, and leaned his face close, eyes narrowed maliciously. I winced. He had baad fish breath, though it seemed like everyone around here did. "And just how do you plan to do that?" He said. My eyes flickered between him and Star. I noticed she was carefully prying off the muzzle. "Let me talk to your leader!" I demanded. He looked more cautious now. "Why?" He asked uncertainly. "Because when he figures out you trapped his main ally, he will use you for dragon bait." I sneered in return.  
Now he looked afraid. "Viggo is not on this ship. Why don't you come above deck and give us an explanation on why you attacked our ship?" Putting on my best smug, confident face, I pushed my shoulders back. "Don't mind if I do." The hunter fumbled with a key in his pocket, and after unlocking the cage, pulled the mesh up and ushered me through the narrow hallway filled with empty dragon cages, finally reaching a very narrow, delicate looking rope ladder. He gestured towards it, and I slowly pulled myself up, barely able to balance the rope from not tilting backwards.

At the top of the ship, I looked around. There were a few scattered cages of different sizes, and a large number of crates and barrels stocked around the ship. There were, maybe around ten dragon hunters onboard. "Where is the rest of your crew?" I asked. The hunter clenched his teeth. " They took some of our cargo to another one of Viggo's strongholds after YOU destroyed most of our old ship. As I looked around, I realized he was right. This ship was definitely smaller than the last- with less supplies.

The hunter shouted something I didn't catch, and the others all jogged towards us. "This one claims to be an ally of Viggo!" He shouted. Immediately, the hunters roared with fury. "She destroyed our ship!" a guy with a massive mustache roared. "And she was riding a dragon! HOW DARE EVEN OUR ALLY RIDE THE BEAST WE HATE!" Hate? That was strong. Why did these people hate dragons so much? Well, whatever the reason, I needed an excuse, and I needed it fast. I thought back to Heather from the movies. Waiiiit….. Wasn't she a spy? At first for the hunter but them actually for the gang?

"Viggo has sent me to gain the Dragon Riders' trust and give him information about them." I glared at them. "Which means, I told them where I would be going so they saw me attacking this ship." I glared even harder, focusing my eye-lasers on the hunter that claimed to hate dragons the most. "AND IF YOU GIVE AWAY MY PLAN, VIGGO AND I WILL BUTCHER YOU!" He quailed, and I grinned inwardly. Standing up to bullies so often they usually left me and my friends alone taught me exactly where to pressure, where to strike. And how to gain fear.

"Yes ma'am- we will take you to Viggo." The dragon hunter who had taken me above deck said. Uh oh. How would I get out of this now? I looked around at their ship. " _I don't know if we have the firepower and strength, dragons or no. Viggo's army just outnumbers us one million to twenty."_ Astrid's words rang in my ears. She had told me that when I asked why Hiccup was so terrified of Viggo even though he had a night fury by his side. They didn't stand a chance. Unless I could actually pull off a trick like fooling Viggo and all of his fleets. I thought about Star, waiting for me on the island even though she could have taken off at any time. Unless I did something, these hunters would definitely kill her. And I couldn't let that happen. I prided myself on being loyal- to everyone I care about- I can't just leave her in a hunter dungeon.

I lifted my chin. "Yes. Take me to Viggo.

The hunter seemed to travel twice as fast, barely giving me time to plan. And my heart was racing with fear so much, I felt like it would jump out of my chest and swim away into the vast ocean. I forced my breathe to come out even, though I felt like gasping, and screaming, and otherwise giving away my position. By the time the sun was low in the sky, we were approaching a rather large island covered in dome shaped buildings made of a shiny gray substance, probably marble. There were also several tents, one of which two men guarded the entrance. There was a huge piece of cloth hanging from two trees on either side of the tent emblazoned with the hunter's symbol. Viggo's tent. Here goes- if this doesn't work, I'm doomed.

"Stay here. I have matters to discuss with Viggo." The men grunted among themselves when the dragon hater cleared his throat. "Of course." He herded the other men towards a tent. I turned away and marched towards Viggo's tent. The men looked at me suspiciously, but I just strode past them, smirking at the rather stunned looks on their faces. As I walked in, I noticed a young man sitting a low table, with a strange game laid out in front of him. Other than that, the tent was empty, lit with candles and lanterns hung around. I marched in and slapped a map I nicked from a hunter and drawn some random stuff, mainly " _revenge!"_ all over the isle of Berk and where there was a marking of _rider's outpost._ Viggo studied me. "And who might you be?" He asked calmly and smoothly. I cleared my throat. "I have absolutely no idea who I am, but I know I am Skylar Grace, and I have an alliance proposal for you." He looked me up and down. "Never heard of you- unless…." He leaned forward in his chair excitedly. "Are you from beyond the borders of the archipelago?" He asked, a tumor of excitement in his voice. "Yes." I said flatly. Hey, california is WAAAY out of the archipelago. That works. He cocked his head. "Why might you want to join us?" He nodded to a roaring sound outside the tent. "You have a dragon." I raised my eyebrows. "My dragon has done nothing to anybody- she does not deserve any disfortune. However….. I am aware that many vikings lives have been taken, food, shelter, family… And I believe they need to be taught just how strong humans are."

He was still looking at me cautiously, studying me. If the movies are accurate then he is an extremely intelligent mastermind- a thinker. I needed to be careful, since being a spy worked out so badly for Heather. I narrowed my eyes. _I_ am also a mastermind. I _know_ that I am smarter than Heather- maybe even than Viggo himself. I mean, the movies and stories people write in modern time literally cover every single battle technique and tactic anyone could possibly think of. And let's just say, I read a LOT of books and watch quite a few movies. I inhaled and nodded. "Sooo- is that an agreement?" He slowly nodded, then drew out a piece of charcoal.

He turned over the map and wrote in bold letters, "The dragon hunters led by I, Viggo Grimborn, declare an alliance with Skylar Grace-" I quickly interrupted, "and my dragon." "And her dragon. We offer protection and control of reasonable amounts of men, in exchange for her telling us about dragons outside the archipelago and behavioral patterns that will help us greatly increase our income of dragons," He turned his head to the roaring, which was now behind us, "and bringing down the dragon hunters."

He signed it in loopy handwriting. "Ryker?" He called. Immediately, one of the burly men that was outside guarding the tent came in. "yes, Viggo?" he asked. Viggo wrote the word witness and handed the charcoal to Ryker. "Sign in your hand." he said, and Ryker signed. I couldn't help but stare at his bald shiny head. How on earth did he cut it that short without modern equipment? Before I realized, Viggo had put the charcoal in my hand. "Sign in your own hand." He said. I switched the charcoal over to my left hand and wrote my name, for good measure dotting the eye properly. He narrowed his eyes. "You're left handed?" He asked. I nodded, staying silent. Pushing back my shoulders, I grabbed the map, tucked it into a loophole in my belt, probably meant for a weapon, and smiled secretly. I had a weapon. I had trust.

As I walked outside, the same hunter who commanded the ship came over to me. "How'd it go, ma'am?" He asked. I smiled with the corner of my mouth, tilting my head down. "Excellent." I said softly. I could tell this creeped him out. He slowly backed up, and saluted cautiously. "I will ready a tent for you to stay the night in." He said nervously, then took off running. As soon as I noticed he was out of eye and earshot, I exhaled, finally able to breathe.

How did it go so well? Why did they believe me? My eyes pulled, and I realized how tired I was. I noticed Star being escorted chain-free to a tent. I jogged after her and skidded to a stop. "Hey girl." I said. She grunt growled a greeting. I grinned and rubbed my knuckle on the top of her tough snout. "Noogie." I whispered. She rolled her eyes and purred. The hunter on her left looked the other on her right, shrugged, then walked away. Right side didn't want to be left behind, so he ran after his friend. I walked into the tent. It was simple- just a straw mat for sleeping, and a single lantern. I yawned, and curled up on the mat. Star rolled over, then fired low at the ground in a circle, and took three turns before flopping down. I watched her. That behavior was so dog like, yet there was a higher intelligence behind it.

"Tomorrow is a new day, Darkstar." I whispered, yawning. "See you on the other side- of a war."


	7. Chapter 7: Into the Dark

Chapter 7

I yawned, then suddenly tipped with sleepiness, and I suddenly became aware that I was free-falling through the air. Wide awake now, I saw Star flying above me, and _away_ from me. "STAR!" I roared, and she finally noticed I was plummeting and zipped underneath me. My back landed on her's with a thud. "OWW! My back is crippled for life!" She grunted, annoyed, so I stopped complaining. "So, where might we be going?" I asked. She looked at me exasperated. Ugh. I had clearly missed something. All I remember last was dreaming I was telling the dragon hunters I would scout from above their ship, though I really just wanted planning time. I looked down and saw three ships, each loaded with snares and catapults. I winced. Especially with Star and I scouting, this was a pretty solid fleet. If Hiccup was to attack now, he probably wouldn't stand a chance. Great. I had sleep walked, talked, and doomed several dragons.

I looked down, the carefully motioned to Star to drop me on the only part of the deck that wasn't ridden with traps- the part that was ridden with hunters. A foot above the deck, I neatly tilted off her back and landed on my feet. The dragon hunters looked at me, some in awe, some in fear. Excellent. "So." I looked around. "What's the plan?" One of them cleared their throat. I swiveled around my heel and glared at him. "Care to tell me?" I asked. He nodded quickly. "We are going to plant smothering smokebreaths all around Berk and the Outpost. The beasts will steal all their metal and weapons, and then shroud everything with smoke so the riders cannot see their own hands in front of their face." I raised an eyebrow. "Are you aware that the night fury can navigate without sight?" I asked coldly. They exchanged glances. "It's only one dragon!" One brave guy shouted. I snorted. "You don't seem to realize that one dragon could pretty easily disperse enough of the smokies to let the others see." He grunted, and the others shifted, looking between me and their leaders, a silent, stocky guy by the name of Ryker.

"I have a slight edition to your plan." I looked around, to help spark interest. "Keep the smokies, but first capture the night fury, and then release them." Without Toothless, they would definitely be crippled- but if I could find a way to release the dragon and get him with Hiccup, they could defeat the hunters. The only problem was timing. However, the riders were not fools. Hopefully if I made it easy, they could swoop in and grab Toothless.

"APPROACHING BEEEERK!" One of the men screamed, making Star standing by my side wince. We docked at a small island, just a few kilometers away from Berk. It was, as many of the islands, rocky, and had cover of shrubs and grasses, trees sparsely spread around. It was cold, and the water was a deep turquoise as it leaped out of the ocean and onto the rocky shore. My eyes trailed further to see a group of seven men trying to look incognito in black clothes and ninja bandanas further along the shore, shouting incoherently and dragging a small black dragon with half a red tail off a small vessel. I felt a stab of pity. If Hiccup hadn't shot down the poor thing, he would have easily been able to take on the hunters. One of his biggest strengths was his quick and maneuverable flight, and without Hiccup to fly him, he was stranded, like a sitting duck with fiery breath. I shook my head back to the present and sauntered over to the hunters like I owned the world. I cast one eye down disdainfully at Toothless, who grunted in shock, then growled best he could with muzzled mouth. "Lock him below deck, and make sure he's secure!" I commanded, then walked away to where around thirty hunters were dragging cages full of Smothering Smokebreaths.

About half an hour later, the cages were rigged, and the hunters safely on the next island when they sent up a signal- a flare of fire that we had agreed on. The cages, roughly twenty in total, were all on a small hill, roughly a quarter of a mile away from the town. The hill was covered in trees, and well concealed by another, taller hill in between Berk and the cages. However, once the Smothering Smokebreaths got altitude, they would spy Berk, and hopefully the large amounts of metal everyone carried there. "Come on girl," I urged, and Star increased her speed, also increasing my dizziness. "How do those riders manage not to get dizzy?" I muttered, then thought about ballerinas. They controlled their head so they did not look at all the passing surroundings. I focused on one spot, the cage with the most smokebreaths, and within a minute, we had reached, and Star blasted the ropes holding the cages closed. Then we fled, this time so fast I focused on the refuge island, which we reached barely a minute after. "Now what?" asked Ryker softly. "Now we wait." I responded.

Shortly after, we clearly could see the smoke rising from the main village. There were screams and battle cries so loud they shook the sky, but I saw a stream of smokebreaths that flew off holding many metal weapons. I looked back at the ship. If I couldn't get Toothless out fast, then Berk really will be defenseless and the plan will have backfired.

We were so busy watching the destruction I did not notice that Hiccup, Astrid, and Stormfly were on the ship in which Toothless was being held until Star nudged my arm. Out of the corner of my eye I watched then go under, and I hoped they would see the key I left hanging on the door. A minute after, they came back up, and Toothless took to the air, and blasted five of the smokies holding maces. Finally finding support, Hookfang rose up and started beating furiously with his huge wings, dispersing the smoke. Astrid, the twins, and Fishlegs finally managed to get in the fight, wresting the dragons for all of their weapons and succeeding to get back a majority. I watched as Hiccup raised his hand, and they flew back towards the village, stopping abruptly as they stared a massive pile of rocks. I smiled. Sooner or later they would realize the precise rocks Star and I had left in three piles in the exact proportions needed to make enough gronckle iron to make stronger weapons. However, I doubted any of these guys, even Hiccup would find out that the rocks were from me. I was still their enemy, and now I was probably being targeted to be taken out.

Back at the camp, the hunters returned,dragging feet and going as slowly as possible. A big burly dude came out and called for me and Ryker, and I begrudgingly followed them to Viggo's tent.

Viggo himself was sitting inside of the tent, playing a game. It looked like an island stronghold, and there were several figures, like game pieces lined up inside. One half of them looked nasty, and the other half looked idealistic- for vikings. I noticed two pieces facing each other, then realized Viggo was waiting. I cleared my throat and looked up. Viggo stared intently at the two of us. "What. happened." He said softly, his voice calm and smooth, but as I looked at his eyes, it was like facing a wild fire. "It was almost going to work, brother!" Ryker answered, so enthusiastically yet there was a pitiful whimper in his tone. I cut in, "If the sentries had not left their place, the night fury would not have been rescued in time to stop the Smokebreaths." Viggo turned back to Ryker. "And why did the sentries leave their post?" He asked nonchalantly. I eyed him, impressed. He was clearly a master of hiding his emotions. Ryker shrugged. "We don't know where they are. They disappeared." I nodded, though I knew where the sentries had disappeared to. After Star and I had released the smokebreaths, we snuck around the back of the ship, captured the sentries, and dropped them into Whispering Death tunnels. I somehow doubt they would join us soon.

Viggo sighed. "From now on, I am coming along." Ryker stared. "You, brother?" Viggo glared at him. "Yes." he said icily. "We cannot afford any more-" He made air quotations, "accidents." Ryker seemed at lost at words, then managed to express one sentence. "But you can't fight."

Viggo went silent. "So that's what you think, brother, that I can't fight." he turned back to the game, his back facing us as he moved the leader of the nasty looking pieces forward. "I might not be the _best_ at fighting- though by no regards am I _useless_ \- but keep in mind…" He took the nasty piece, and slipped it past the leader of the ideal vikings. "But without my plans, my schemes…" He took the rest of the ideal pieces and suddenly smashed the nasty ones with them until the only nasty piece chief remained. "The rest of you are," He turned back to us. "Nothing." The two of us stared at him, unable to find words until he waved at Ryker. "You are dismissed." His tone was so scary that Ryker practically tripped trying to get out. It almost shocked me to see the proud, terrifying, warrior Ryker controlled so easily by his _younger_ , weaker brother. Viggo was even better with manipulation than I thought. Which of course, made my job a ton harder.

"You understand that now, without my protection, those riders will tear you apart for joining me?" He asked, jerking me out of my thoughts. I nodded, though knowing the riders, they would probably demand an explanation, and maybe lock me up. But they were not the type to tear people apart, and Viggo knew that. He wanted to intimidate me, and I stood straighter as I knew he was watching me. Approval shown in his eyes, I felt with satisfaction that I was right. I also knew that I needed to actually make a success- or Viggo might even get rid of me. I needed to stay in so I could help tear the dragon hunters apart from the inside, and also figure out why they wanted to kill Star. What use was a gronckle to them? They could easily get any gronckle from the wild, they were certainly easy enough to catch, and their naturally friendly personalities made them so easy to train I was stumped at why Viggo did not his own fleet of gronckles. Probably because they would be too friendly to Hiccup and his riders, judging especially from the fact that Fishlegs rode Meatlug.

"ARE YOU LISTENING?" Viggo said, his voice only slightly louder but seeming to blast in my ear. I jerked to attention. "Yes?" I asked. He sighed, slight irritation showing on his face. "Keep an eye on my brother, will you?" I raised an eyebrow, though inwardly I saw his game. He knew that I knew how devious he was, and how easily he could overpower and manipulate Ryker, and was asking me to see if I would play his game. I suddenly got suspicious. Why would he trust me? The only reason he allowed me to join was he wanted help capturing Star, though he didn't seem to know that she was the dragon he was searching for. "Why?" I asked. I needed him to underestimate me. He searched my face, then answered. "I feel he might be tired of my tyranny. I need someone who is not yet feeling as he." I nodded slowly, trying to arrange my face into a dull expression. He made a small motion of dismissal, and I stepped out of the tent into the cold air, surveying the icy surroundings.

"And Skylar?" he called after me. I turned briefly. "Yes?" Again that tone of mild suspicion, cleverly disguised. "Your dragon seems really similar to one I am searching for. Do you perhaps know where her homeland is?" I shook my head. " I only found her on an island with a Green Death." I turned and walked away, only without catching the sudden gleam in his eye at the mention of the Green Death. Then I realized one thing. He was looking for a black dragon accompanying a girl named Sky. How did he not make the connection? Black gronckle? Sky? Sky- lar? Unless…. I yawned so widely my jawbone cracked. Digging my knuckles into my tired eyes, I jogged to my tent and settled down on the mat next to Star, who was already sleeping. It was only in my last few moments of consciousness that several things struck me. Firstly, gronckles were, no offense intended, _slow_ , compared to most other dragons like night furies and nadderheads. Yet today, Star moved with INCREDIBLE speed. Not to mention, the odd fire, and Viggo's interest in her. It hit me right before I passed out. This was his _plan!_ He wanted me to use Star to control dragons, in the same way she got the riders' dragons to calm down. Right before my eyes closed, the hugeness of his plan hit me. I played right into his hands.


	8. Chapter 8: The Bitter Truth

Chapter 8

I was running through a forest, Star next to me, her eyes wild. It was eerily quiet, very little sound besides the crunching of my feet on the brown leaves, the snap of twigs as I whacked them out of my way, There was no breeze, but all the trees, layered with green, brown, orange, and many other blinding colors swayed as if pushed by a massive hand. There was no path, simply dirt with layers of leaves building on the ground, roots entangled and threatening to trip me with every step. The bark on the trees was harsh and scraped my shoulders when I brushed by. The wind finally swooped by, carrying whispers. The birds whistles jeered at me, and the squirrels quivered noses sneered. The trees catcalls roared in my ears, and I realized that Star had disappeared.

I jolted awake. I had just slammed into a tree. The world appeared a mesh of colors, and I rubbed my eyes with my knuckles, and blinked. I was, similar to my dream, in a forest, but there was no overwhelming silence, no eerie chants of my name. It was actually quite peaceful and calming, and I felt my heartbeat return to normal as I rubbed my forehead and glared reproachfully at the tree that I crashed into. "Star?" I called, glancing around me. She was nowhere in sight. And neither was civilization. Once, again, my heart started thumping, and my head spun, my vision going blurry. I must have really taken a bad bump into the tree. I thought wistfully of my freezer at home, our ice packs that would have easily cooled down my hot head. Painkiller was really sounding good now. I sat down on a small log, then shrieked as I spotted thousands of beetles crawling inside the rotting log. I whacked at my legs, then squatted in place and put my head in my hands, trying to ignore the pain, and suddenly holding back a rush of tears. What was I doing here? I should be home, with my parents, and friends. I needed to get my parents, Ryan, and Hershey, and bolt out of here. And I didn't even know where in this huge, broken world they were. Who knew if my lead with the coordinates was even correct? It might have been a coincidence.

I don't know how long I was sitting there, but I was shaken out of my wallow when a crunching of leaves jolted me, and I jumped to my feet. One of the dragon hunters, I don't know which, they mostly wear masks, approached me. "Sleep walking?" he asked. I nodded, though the concept sounded strange to me. I had never sleep walked before. This wacky world must be damaging me. He shrugged. "I do it too, all the time. Back at camp, your dragon was acting very weird, so I figured you sleepwalked and followed the path I usually follow." I tried to grasp this. "Do you know the way back?" I asked. He nodded and gestured, "follow me." I don't know how long we walked in silence, before he made an attempt at conversation. "Nice weather, huh?" He grunted, and I shrugged. It was hard to tell with the tree cover, and my brain was strangely blank, like all thoughts had evaded me. "So why did you join the hunters?" He asked. I snapped out of my trance. "Money." I said, shrugging. It seemed like the best response. He raised a thick eyebrow. "Really? Most people join for revenge. It's not like our paychecks are grand. They are comfortable, but there are better ways."

I finally got interested. "Revenge? For what?" He growled under his breath. "We all suffered at the hands of dragons." I made a go on gesture. "So, my story. I used to be a fisher. I had a humble little hut, and I fished for my town. I was quite happy, until one day a monstrous nightmare walked up to me. We were quite peaceful people, so I tossed the dragon a fish, wished him a good day, and kept walking." Wished him a good day? Well, based on the education standards of this time, he probably wouldn't have even been surprised if the dragon had responded. "Anyway, later, when I put my stores away, and went to get my salt to preserve some of it I came back to see that my hut was gone. Nothing was left except for a pile of ash, and an empty barrel. That was all that was left, but I still had no wish for violence. I buried some gold, and used it to pay my neighbors to stay at there place, and returned to my fishing life. However, after a week, the nightmare returned, and this time, I refused to give it a fish. After all, I needed to earn back what I lost, and every fish counted. I didn't realize the beast had followed me until I had finished selling my fish to all of the people in the town. But this time, the dragon left, and returned with two friends that BURNED DOWN MY WHOLE VILLAGE!" I flinched, and his roar echoed off the trees. Pity engulfed me. If my town of Fremont had been burned down, I would have done far worse than what this hunter was doing. I would hunt down every last dragon I could find, and turn it into a pile of ashes.

"I don't even had the worst story, not my a long shot." he said after a moment, when he regained his breath. I stared at him. There was was worse than an entire civilization being burned to the ground for a few barrels of fish?"

"My best friend, Bard," He started. "Well, he was a wee lad back then. He lived with his family, that liked dragons. Thought them majestic, intelligent beasts, similar to humans. In fact, so similar to humans that they started feeding, and eventually, adopted a changewing. The changewing protected their family from all other dragons, and when their village went to war with another, the changewing protected the entire village. Bard always studied the changewing, who he called Bob." I snorted back a laugh at the name, and made an impatient go on gesture. "Then came a day where Bob met another changewing, who both Bard and Bob liked. Quite a fine beast, had the most twisted horns he had ever seen on a beast. However, a freeze hit the village, and his craft as a potter was no longer so profitable, and he went on meager rations for a while. But Bob wanted not only a full fish meal for himself, he threatened Bard into giving him enough fish for the other changewing. Bard, who could not spare that amount refused, and the changewings got furious. Spat their acid, destroyed the whole village. Bard's younger brother went after them for revenge, and was lost at sea. They never saw him or his crew again."

I was so captivated by the story I did not realize we had reached the camp. "Well, now I have to attend Ryker." he said heartily, and clapped me on the shoulder before walking off. I still didn't see Star, so I walked over to my tent and collapsed on the mat, my legs wobbly. These hunters, they weren't always so cruel. The dragons made them this way, and Hiccup and the rest of his riders weren't even letting them get their justice. I don't know how I didn't see this before. Though they said the dragons were their friends, they were just using the beasts for protection. The riders didn't care that their dragons might have even killed entire populations of humans. They just wanted their fire breathing, flying war machines. HTTYD was so _wrong_. There was nothing noble about their little charade. The were protecting monsters, people- killers. Whatever happened to the dragons caught by the hunters, they _deserved it_. Now I needed to get out of this world even faster. In a place where the heroes were dragon hunters, you knew this was a place to run far, far away from. Until I realized one thing. Even if I found my family, Ryan, and Hershey, there was no guarantee I would find a way to get back my time and home. What had I gotten myself into?

After a little while, when I regained some of my strength, I ducked under the tent exit and walked to the nearest hunter sentry. "Do you know if there are any human prisoners?" I asked him. He shook his head. "No. But I have heard word that the citizens of Berk have apprehended and imprisoned several spies that claimed they didn't even know where Berk was, except for two lasses that asked if the people of Berk were vikings." I stared at him. He literally just described my family and friends without even realizing they were exactly who I was looking for. Anger surged through me, making my teeth grind together and my fists clench. I wanted to jump, stomp my feet, and bawl like a little kid. There was nothing I could think of. At least if I had stayed in Berk I could have rescued my family and friends and hightailed out of there, at least somewhere far away from this war between dragons and humans, where I could have figured out a way back home without getting involved or even _knowing_ that the so- called heroes of HTTYD were actually the villains.

How would I get my parents back? Now that I joined the hunters, there is no way the riders would just hand them over. I needed to break in, but I didn't have the muscle. However… someone did. And that someone was named Viggo Grimborn.

A messenger, a much smaller, leaner hunter than what I was used to ran up to me when I was getting ready for bed. He came to me and told me in a superior, snobby tone, "Viggo says you are to accompany a fleet tomorrow, along with your dragon." I nodded, deciding to humor him. "Do you know where my dragon is?" I inwardly cringed. I already sounded like Hiccup. _My dragon_. Why didn't they realize they had absolutely no control over those monsters? They were simply biding their time before they could rise over and destroy all the humans on the planet! "Ryker took the beast with him to sniff out some trails. It will be back with you before before long."

I was about to sleep when I felt a muzzle poke me in the shoulder, and a tongue gently lap at my face. I pushed the head away and sat up. Star sat back on her haunches and stared at me, looking slightly hurt. I cleared my throat, and forced the words out of my throat. "Have you ever killed a human?"

Star narrowed her eyes, and shook her head. Relief, like cool water after walking through a desert, flooded me, making me feel dizzy with relief. So she wasn't like some of those other beasts. Or maybe she was. I don't really know. All I knew was that I needed someone I could trust in this crazy world, and I doubted anyone else was up to the task. Besides, she had secrets too. We were even. And besides, she was backing me up even though I joined hunter of DRAGONS, so I had to trust her to an extent. I put my hands on either side of her muzzle, and stared straight into her eyes, the black pupil surrounded by the beautiful blazing dark blue of her eyes. You tell me all of your secrets, and I'll tell you mine.


End file.
